Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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319. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, in line with the recommendations of the Pensions Commission, a smoothed earnings method to calculating a benchmarked or indexed rate of State pension payments will be introduced as an input to the annual budget process and submitted to Government for its consideration in September each year, commencing in 2023; if the benchmarking report has been submitted to Government; if so, when the report will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43510/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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329. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the report on benchmarking or indexation of State pension payments has been submitted to the Government; if so, when the report will be published; her views on the recommendations of the Pensions Committee to the effect that such a report should form part of the annual budget negotiation process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43832/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 319, 323 and 329 together.

Last September I announced a series of reforms to the State Pension system in response to the recommendations from the Commission on Pensions. As part of this, the Government committed that a smoothed earnings method to calculating a benchmarked/indexed rate of State Pension payments will be introduced as an input to the annual budget process and be submitted to Government each year from 2023.

My Department has completed the benchmarking calculation and it has been submitted to Government as an input to the Budget 2024 process. This input has been considered as part of the overall Budgetary discussions in the context of wider economic and environmental factors, Budget expenditure pressures across Departments, and taking into account any once-off measures, which may be agreed as a response to cost of living pressures.